Every week there’s some crazy new thing happening in D.C.—and sometimes we feel like there’s little we can do. But that’s wrong. Individual cities and states still have a lot of say in policy and have tools to push back on federal overreach. Here in New York, we’re no strangers to taking action when we disagree.

This past month alone, we had discussions with NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, NYS Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle, and other elected officials about the impact the tech community can have at the local level. So much of what affects us day-to-day is determined by city and state action, and it’s not hard to get involved with the process, whether that is going to community board meetings, calling City Council Members, and getting in touch with NYS Assembly Members.

Check out more of what we’ve been up to in July below.

What We’re Up To

Last week, the Department of Justice filed a brief in a New York case arguing that the law should not protect LGBTQ individuals from workplace discrimination. We disagree and proudly stand with the LGBTQ community. While the DOJ has chosen to disregard the benefits of a diverse workforce, Tech:NYC and our members will continue fighting to create inclusive and supportive working environments that make our companies better.

We recently met with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to discuss how the tech community can get involved more with state and local government. AG Schneiderman discussed how, in the past several months, his office has coordinated closely with other state Attorneys General to ensure state governments are working together to maintain diverse workplaces, make sure citizens can vote, and generally provide a check on the federal government. New York’s companies could all learn a lesson from this strategy as we organize around issues we care about. We look forward to working with AG Schneiderman’s office on expanding access to voter registration and more.

We and our members Handy, Kickstarter, Starry Internet, and Warby Parker met with New York State Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle to discuss strategies for working with the State Assembly and Albany lawmakers. Want to get involved in our outreach to state and local government? Get in touch.

On July 12th, we worked alongside members including Etsy, Facebook, Google, Kickstarter, Shapeways, and Twitter to support a free and open internet on the Net Neutrality Day of Action. A record-breaking more than 9 million comments were submitted to the FCC by the July 17th deadline.